Processing packet

ABSTRACT

Methods of processing a packet, APs, ACs and non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums are provided in examples of the present disclosure. In one aspect, an AP receives an Internet-of-Things data packet sent by an Internet-of-Things sensor, wherein a sensor identifier of the Internet-of-Things sensor is carried in the Internet-of-Things data packet; and sends the received Internet-of-Things data packet to an AC such that the AC processes the Internet-of-Things data packet based on the sensor identifier.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/464,153, filed on May 24, 2019, entitled “PROCESSING PACKET”, whichis a national phase under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International ApplicationNo. PCT/CN2017/113343, filed on Nov. 28, 2017, which is based on andclaims priority to and benefit of Chinese Patent Application No.201611075281.2, filed with China National Intellectual PropertyAdministration (CNIPA) of People's Republic of China on Nov. 29, 2016,and entitled “METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PROCESSING PACKET”. The entirecontents of all of the above-identified applications are incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND

An Internet of Things is a network where things are linked together. Inthe Internet of Things, thing information can be collected by means ofan information sensing device (e.g., an Internet-of-Things sensor) toachieve intelligent recognition, positioning, tracking, monitoring andmanagement for things.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of processing a packet basedon an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of processing a packet basedon an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an Internet of Things basedon an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of an AP basedon an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of an AC basedon an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of logic forprocessing a packet based on an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of logic forprocessing a packet based on an example of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The technical solutions of embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed clearly and fully below in combination with drawings in theembodiments of the present disclosure. It is apparent that the describedembodiments are merely part of embodiments of the present disclosurerather than all embodiments. Other embodiments achieved by those ofordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments in the presentdisclosure without paying creative work shall all fall into the scope ofprotection of the present disclosure.

In an Internet of Things based on a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN),an Access Point (AP) has a built-in Internet-of-Things sensor. The APprocesses Internet-of-Things data received from the Internet-of-Thingssensor. Processing modules corresponding to different Internet-of-Thingssensors on the AP are desired, which causes that a large amount of APhardware resources are occupied.

A method of processing a packet is provided in an example of the presentdisclosure. In the method, an AP allocates a sensor identifier for anInternet-of-Things sensor and sends an Internet-of-Things data packetreceived from the Internet-of-Things sensor and including the sensoridentifier to an Access Controller (AC), such that the AC processes theInternet-of-Things data packet based on the sensor identifier.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of processing a packet basedon an example of the present disclosure. In the method, a process thatan AP processes a packet is described as follows.

At block 101, an Internet-of-Things data packet sent from anInternet-of-Things sensor is received.

In the example of the present disclosure, the AP establishes aconnection with the Internet-of-Things sensor, and sends a sensoridentifier allocated to the Internet-of-Things sensor to theInternet-of-Things sensor. The sensor identifier is carried in theInternet-of-Things data packet from the Internet-of-Things sensor.

In an example, the sensor identifier may be allocated for theInternet-of-Things sensor by an AP or another device, which is notlimited herein.

At block 102, the received Internet-of-Things data packet is sent to anAC.

At the block, the AP does not parses the Internet-of-Things data packet,and forwards the Internet-of-Things data packet to the AC, such that theAC processes the Internet-of-Things data based on the sensor identifiercarried in the Internet-of-Things data packet. Thus, the resourcesoccupation for the AP can be minimized, and processing stress for the APcan be reduced.

Further, the AP may allocate a virtual sub-card identifier for theInternet-of-Things sensor and record a correspondence between the sensoridentifier and the virtual sub-card identifier corresponding to theInternet-of-Things sensor. In an example, a virtual sub-card may be acontrol module for a physical sensor. The AC may send a managementinstruction to the virtual sub-card so as to manage a physical sensorcorresponding to the virtual sub-card, such as checking a status of theInternet-of-Things sensor, and shutting down/starting up theInternet-of-Things sensor. For example, the AC may send a physicalsensor shutdown command carrying the virtual sub-card identifier to theAP so as to shut down the physical sensor corresponding to the virtualsub-card. The AP forwards the received physical sensor shutdown commandto the virtual sub-card based on the virtual sub-card identifier, andthe virtual sub-card shuts down the corresponding physical sensor basedon the physical sensor shutdown command.

A correspondence between the virtual sub-card identifier correspondingto the Internet-of-Things sensor and an interface identifier of aninterface connected with the Internet-of-Things sensor may be sent tothe AC, such that the AC generates a topology of the AP and a virtualsub-card based on the correspondence between the virtual sub-cardidentifier and the interface identifier.

When the AP receives the Internet-of-Things data packet from theInternet-of-Things sensor in block 101, the AP may obtain thecorresponding virtual sub-card identifier based on the sensor identifiercarried in the Internet-of-Things data packet and the correspondencebetween the sensor identifier and the virtual sub-card identifierrecorded in the AP and send the virtual sub-card identifier and theInternet-of-Things data packet to the AC. The AC may perform amanagement operation for the Internet-of-Things sensor based on thevirtual sub-card identifier and the topology of the AP and the virtualsub-card, for example, the AP determines a virtual sub-cardcorresponding to the Internet-of-Things data packet.

In an example, before sending the virtual sub-card identifier and theInternet-of-Things data packet to the AC, the AP performs tunnelencapsulation for the Internet-of-Things data packet (for example, aBluetooth data packet for a Bluetooth sensor or a Zigbee data packet fora Zigbee sensor) based on a tunnel protocol between the AP and the AC,e.g., a Control And Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP)protocol specification. The virtual sub-card identifier is carried inthe tunnel encapsulation. The AP sends the Internet-of-Things datapacket to the AC through the tunnel between the AP and the AC.

In an example, an Internet-of-Things port number may further be carriedin the tunnel encapsulation. The Internet-of-Things port number is usedto identify that a data packet sent from the AP to the AC is theInternet-of-Things data packet, e.g., a data packet from theInternet-of-Things sensor, such that the AC processes the packet when itis determined the received data packet is the Internet-of-Things datapacket based on the Internet-of-Things port number.

Further, to make the AC distinguish the Internet-of-Things data packetssent from different types of Internet-of-Things sensors (for example, aBluetooth sensor, a Zigbee sensor and the like), sensor type informationmay be included in the sensor identifier when the sensor identifier isallocated by the AP, such that the AC processes the Internet-of-Thingsdata from the different types of Internet-of-Things sensors based on thesensor type information.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of processing a packetbased on another example of the present disclosure. A process that theAC processes a packet is described as follow.

At block 201, an Internet-of-Things data packet is received from an AP.

At block 202, the received data packet is determined to be anInternet-of-Things data packet when a destination port number carried inthe data packet is a preset Internet-of-Things port number.

A major function of the AP includes processing a WLAN signal. In anexample of the present disclosure, data packets forwarded from the AP tothe AC may include a WLAN data packet and an Internet-of-Things datapacket.

The AC may identify that the packet is the Internet-of-Things datapacket, and may process the Internet-of-Things data packet. In anexample, the AC obtains a destination port number carried in the datapacket (as described above, when the AP performs the tunnelencapsulation on the Internet-of-Things data packet, theInternet-of-Things port number is carried in the tunnel encapsulation),and determines the received data packet to be the Internet-of-Thingsdata packet when the obtained destination port number is the presetInternet-of-Things port number.

At block 203, the sensor type of the Internet-of-Things sensor sendingthe Internet-of-Things data packet is determined based on the sensoridentifier carried in the Internet-of-Things data packet.

As described above, the AP may allocate the sensor identifier for theInternet-of-Things sensor. The sensor identifier may include the sensortype information, such as a Bluetooth sensor and a Zigbee sensor. The ACobtains the sensor type information in the sensor identifier anddetermines the sensor type of the Internet-of-Things sensor sending theInternet-of-Things data based on the sensor type information.

At block 204, the Internet-of-Things data packet is processed based onthe sensor type information.

For example, when the received Internet-of-Things data packet isdetermined to be the Internet-of-Things data packet from the Bluetoothsensor, the Internet-of-Things data packet is processed based on aBluetooth protocol.

Further, the AC receives a correspondence from the AP, where thecorrespondence is a correspondence between a virtual sub-card identifierallocated for the Internet-of-Things sensor by the AP and an interfaceidentifier of an interface connected with the Internet-of-Things sensoron the AP. The AC generates a topology of the AP and a virtual sub-cardbased on the correspondence, and performs control management for theInternet-of-Things sensor based on the virtual sub-card identifier andthe topology of the AP and the virtual sub-card. For example, a commandfor reading a connection status of a physical sensor is sent to the APcorresponding to the virtual sub-card (corresponding to theInternet-of-Things sensor) based on the virtual sub-card identifier soas to determine whether the Internet-of-Things sensor is connectednormally. The AP forwards the received command for reading theconnection status of the physical sensor to the corresponding virtualsub-card based on the virtual sub-card identifier, and the virtualsub-card determines the connection status of the physical sensor andsends the connection status to the AC via the AP. In an example, afunctional module of a physical sub-card is multiplexed to implementcontrol for the Internet-of-Things sensor.

Further, the AC may upload a result of processing the Internet-of-Thingsdata packet to a cloud server. In examples of the present disclosure,the powerful data processing capability of an AC is fully utilized toperform deep processing for Internet-of-Things data, and a dataprocessing result is provided to the cloud server. For example, when awarning is desired based on the processing result, a warning signal isdirectly sent to the cloud server so as to reduce a bandwidth demandbetween the AC and the cloud server.

It can be seen from above, abundant hardware resources and powerfulprocessing capabilities of the AC are fully utilized to process theInternet-of-Things data from different Internet-of-Things sensors inexamples of the present disclosure such that the packet processingcapability of the whole WLAN network is improved.

An Internet of Things in FIG. 3 is taken as an example to describe thepacket processing process. The Internet of Things includes a cloudServer, an AC, a Switch, APs (AP1 and AP2), and Internet-of-Thingssensors (Sensor1˜Sensor4). The AC is respectively connected with the APsvia a CAPWAP tunnel, and the AP is respectively connected with thesensors by means of a serial bus, where the Sensor1 is connected with aninterface 1 on the AP1, the Sensor2 is connected with an interface 2 onthe AP1, the Sensor3 is connected with an interface 1 on the AP2; andthe Sensor4 is connected with the interface 2 on the AP2. The Sensor1and the Sensor3 are Bluetooth sensors, and the Sensor2 and the Sensor4are Zigbee sensors.

When the Sensor1 is online, the Sensor1 initiatively sends a connectionrequest to the AP1. After the connection is successful, the AP1allocates a sensor identifier for the Sensor1, which is denoted as S1_L,where L represents that the current sensor is the Bluetooth sensor, andallocates a virtual sub-card identifier for the Sensor1, which isdenoted as C1, and establishes a correspondence between the S1_L and theC1. Similarly, when the Sensor2 is online, the AP1 allocates a sensoridentifier S2_Z for the Sensor2, where Z represents that the currentsensor is the Zigbee sensor, allocates a virtual sub-card identifier C2for the Sensor2, and establishes a correspondence between the S2_Z andthe C2. When the Sensor3 is online, the AP2 allocates a sensoridentifier S3_L for the Sensor3, allocates a virtual sub-card identifierC3 for the Sensor3, and establishes a correspondence between the S3_Land the C3. When the Sensor4 is online, the AP2 allocates a sensoridentifier S4_Z for the Sensor4, allocates a virtual sub-card identifierC4 for the Sensor4, and establishes a correspondence between the S4_Zand the C4.

In an example, the Sensor1 sends a Bluetooth data packet. The sensoridentifier S1_L allocated by the AP1 is carried in the Bluetooth datapacket. After receiving the Bluetooth data packet, the AP1 queriescorrespondences between sensor identifiers and virtual sub-cardidentifiers recorded in the AP1 based to the sensor identifier S1_Lcarried in the packet to obtain the virtual sub-card identifier C1.CAPWAP tunnel encapsulation is performed for the Bluetooth data packet,and the encapsulated Bluetooth data packet is sent to the AC, where thevirtual sub-card identifier C1 is carried in the tunnel encapsulation,and a preset Internet-of-Things port number is added into a destinationport number field in the tunnel encapsulation.

After receiving the data packet from the AP1, the AC determines whetherthe destination port number carried in the data packet is the presetInternet-of-Things port number, and determines the received data packetto be the Internet-of-Things data packet when the destination portnumber carried in the data packet is the preset Internet-of-Things portnumber. The sensor identifier S1_L carried in the Internet-of-Thingsdata packet is obtained, and it is determined that the sensor sendingthe Internet-of-Things data packet is the Bluetooth sensor based on thesensor identifier. The Internet-of-Things data packet is parsed andprocessed based on the Bluetooth protocol.

Further, the AP1 sends the correspondence between the virtual sub-cardidentifier C1 of the Internet-of-Things sensor Sensor1 and an interfaceidentifier P1 of the interface 1 on the AP1 and the correspondencebetween the virtual sub-card identifier C2 of the Internet-of-Thingssensor Sensor2 and an interface identifier P2 of the interface 2 on theAP2 to the AC, such that the AC generates the topologies among the AP1,the C1 and the C2 based on the correspondences above. Similarly, the ACgenerates the topologies among the AP2, the C3 and the C4 based on the acorrespondence between the virtual sub-card identifiers C3 and theinterface identifier P1 of the interface 1 of the AP2 and acorrespondence between the virtual sub-card identifiers C4 and theinterface identifier P1 of the interface 1 of the AP2, which are sent bythe AP2. The AC may send a management command to an AP connected withthe virtual sub-card based on the virtual sub-card identifier. Forexample, the AC may send a command of querying whether the Sensor1 is inpower to the AP1 based on the virtual sub-card identifier C1.

Further, the AC may send a result of processing the Internet-of-Thingsdata to the cloud Server.

Methods based on the present disclosure are described above. Devicesbased on the present disclosure are described below.

FIG. 4A schematically illustrates a hardware structure diagram of an AP,which is provided by an example of the present disclosure. The AP 40 mayinclude a processor 41 and a machine-readable storage medium 42 storingmachine executable instructions. The processor 41 may communicate withthe machine-readable storage medium 42 via a system bus 43, and executethe method of processing a packet described above by reading andexecuting the machine executable instructions corresponding to a logicof processing a packet 50 in the machine-readable storage medium 42.

As used herein, the machine-readable storage medium 42 may be anyelectronic, magnetic, optical, or other physical storage apparatus tocontain or store information such as executable instructions, data, andthe like. For example, any machine-readable storage medium describedherein may be any of Random Access Memory (RAM), volatile memory,non-volatile memory, flash memory, a storage drive (e.g., a hard drive),a solid state drive, any type of storage disc (e.g., a compact disc, aDVD, etc.), and the like, or a combination thereof.

FIG. 4B schematically illustrates a hardware structure diagram of an AC,which is provided by an example of the present disclosure. The AC 70 mayinclude a processor 71 and a machine-readable storage medium 72 storingmachine executable instructions. The processor 71 may communicate withthe machine-readable storage medium 72 via a system bus 73, and executethe method of processing a packet described above by reading andexecuting the machine executable instructions corresponding to a logicof processing a packet 60 in the machine-readable storage medium 72.

As used herein, the machine-readable storage medium 72 may be anyelectronic, magnetic, optical, or other physical storage apparatus tocontain or store information such as executable instructions, data, andthe like. For example, any machine-readable storage medium describedherein may be any of Random Access Memory (RAM), volatile memory,non-volatile memory, flash memory, a storage drive (e.g., a hard drive),a solid state drive, any type of storage disc (e.g., a compact disc, aDVD, etc.), and the like, or a combination thereof.

As shown in FIG. 5 , functionally divided, the logic 50 for processing apacket above may include modules as follows.

A receiving module 501 is configured to receive an Internet-of-Thingsdata packet sent by an Internet-of-Things sensor, wherein a sensoridentifier of the Internet-of-Things sensor is carried in theInternet-of-Things data packet.

A sending module 502 is configured to send the receivedInternet-of-Things data packet to an Access Controller (AC) such thatthe AC processes the Internet-of-Things data packet based on the sensoridentifier.

In an example, the logic further includes an allocating module.

The allocating module is configured to allocate a virtual sub-cardidentifier for the Internet-of-Things sensor.

The sending module 502 is further configured to send a firstcorrespondence between the virtual sub-card identifier corresponding tothe Internet-of-Things sensor and an interface identifier of aninterface connected with the Internet-of-Things sensor on the AP to theAC such that the AC generates a topology of the AP and a virtualsub-card based on the first correspondence.

In an example, the logic further includes a recording module.

The recording module is configured to generate a second correspondencebetween the sensor identifier of the Internet-of-Things sensor and thevirtual sub-card identifier corresponding to the Internet-of-Thingssensor.

The sending module 502 is configured to determine a correspondingvirtual sub-card identifier based on the second correspondence and thesensor identifier carried in the Internet-of-Things data packet; andsend the determined virtual sub-card identifier and theInternet-of-Things data packet to the AC such that the AC performsmanagement for the Internet-of-Things sensor based on the virtualsub-card identifier and the topology of the AP and the virtual sub-card.

In an example, the allocating module is further configured to set adestination port number of the Internet-of-Things data packet as apreset Internet-of-Things port number.

As shown in FIG. 6 , functionally divided, the logic 60 for processing apacket above may include modules as follows.

A receiving module 601 is configured to receive an Internet-of-Thingsdata packet from an AP.

A determining module 602 is configured to determine a sensor type of anInternet-of-Things sensor sending the Internet-of-Things data packetbased on a sensor identifier carried in the Internet-of-Things datapacket

A processing module 603 is configured to process the Internet-of-Thingsdata packet based on the sensor type.

In an example, the receiving module 601 is configured to receive a datapacket from the AP; and determine the received data packet to be theInternet-of-Things data packet when a destination port number carried inthe data packet is a preset Internet-of-Things port number.

Further, the logic further includes a generating module.

The generating module is configured to receive a correspondence betweena virtual sub-card identifier corresponding to the Internet-of-Thingssensor and an interface identifier of an interface connected with theInternet-of-Things sensor on the AP, and generate a topology of the APand a virtual sub-card based on the correspondence.

Further, the device further includes an uploading module.

The uploading module is configured to upload a result of processing theInternet-of-Things data packet based on the sensor type to a cloudserver.

Details of the implementation process of the functions and effects ofdifferent modules in the above-described device may be seen from theimplementation process of corresponding blocks in the above-describedmethod, which will not be redundantly described herein.

Since the device embodiments substantially correspond to the methodembodiments, a reference may be made to part of the descriptions of themethod embodiments for the related part. The device embodimentsdescribed above are merely illustrative, where the units described asseparate members may be or not be physically separated, and the membersdisplayed as units may be or not be physical units, i.e., may be locatedin one place, or may be distributed to a plurality of network units.Part or all of the modules may be selected according to actualrequirements to implement the objectives of the solutions in theembodiments. Those of ordinary skill in the art may understand and carryout them without creative work.

It shall be noted that the relational terms such as “first” and “second”used herein are merely intended to distinguish one entity or operationfrom another entity or operation rather than to require or imply anysuch actual relation or order existing between these entities oroperations. Also, the term “including”, “containing” or any variationthereof is intended to encompass non-exclusive inclusion, so that aprocess, method, article or device including a series of elementsincludes not only those elements but also other elements not listedexplicitly or those elements inherent to such a process, method, articleor device. Without more limitations, an element defined by the statement“including a . . . ” shall not be precluded to include additional sameelements present in a process, method, article or device including theelements.

The above are detailed description of a method and a device providedaccording to the embodiments of the present disclosure. Specificexamples are used herein to set forth the principles and theimplementation of the present disclosure, and the descriptions of theabove embodiments are only meant to help understanding of the method andthe core idea of the present disclosure. Meanwhile, those of ordinaryskill in the art may make alterations to the specific embodiments andthe scope of application in accordance with the idea of the presentdisclosure. In conclusion, the contents of the present specificationshall not be interpreted as limiting to the present disclosure.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of processing a packet, the methodcomprising: receiving, by an Access Controller (AC), anInternet-of-Things data packet from an Access Point (AP); determining,by the AC, a sensor type of an Internet-of-Things sensor sending theInternet-of-Things data packet based on a sensor identifier carried inthe Internet-of-Things data packet; and processing, by the AC, theInternet-of-Things data packet based on the sensor type; receiving, bythe AC from the AP, a correspondence between a virtual sub-cardidentifier corresponding to the Internet-of-Things sensor and aninterface identifier of an interface connected with theInternet-of-Things sensor on the AP, and generating a topology of the APand a virtual sub-card based on the correspondence.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein receiving the Internet-of-Things datapacket from the AP comprises: receiving, by the AC, a data packet fromthe AP; and determining, by the AC, the received data packet to be theInternet-of-Things data packet when a destination port number carried inthe data packet is a preset Internet-of-Things port number.
 3. Themethod according to claim 1, further comprising: uploading, by the AC, aresult of processing the Internet-of-Things data packet based on thesensor type to a cloud server.
 4. An Access Controller (AC), comprising:a processor, and a non-transitory machine-readable storage mediumstoring machine executable instructions which are executable by theprocessor to: receive an Internet-of-Things data packet from an AccessPoint (AP); determine a sensor type of an Internet-of-Things sensorsending the Internet-of-Things data packet based on a sensor identifiercarried in the Internet-of-Things data packet; and process theInternet-of-Things data packet based on the sensor type; receive fromthe AP a correspondence between a virtual sub-card identifiercorresponding to the Internet-of-Things sensor and an interfaceidentifier of an interface connected with the Internet-of-Things sensoron the AP, and generate a topology of the AP and a virtual sub-cardbased on the correspondence.
 5. The AC according to claim 4, wherein theprocessor is caused by the machine-executable instructions further to:receive a data packet from the AP; and determine the received datapacket to be the Internet-of-Things data packet when a destination portnumber carried in the data packet is a preset Internet-of-Things portnumber.
 6. The AC according to claim 4, wherein the processor is causedby the machine-executable instructions further to: upload a result ofprocessing the Internet-of-Things data packet based on the sensor typeto a cloud server.
 7. A non-transitory machine-readable storage mediumstoring machine executable instructions which are invoked and executedby a processor to execute the method of processing a packet according toclaim 1.